A significant quantity of content published on the Internet is supported by online advertisements (“ads”). The process by which online advertising is displayed to end users can involve many parties. A publisher of online content, such as a website, may place an ad request to fill available ad space complementary to that content. The ad space may be offered for sale in a bidding market using an ad exchange and real-time bidding. This may involve numerous parties interacting automatically and exchanging information. The information may include personal information and online behavior of the end users.
In current real-time bidding (RTB) sales models, publishers often do not have access to real-time information about market movements that may allow the publishers to optimize and adjust floor prices. For example, publishers may not know the amounts that advertisers are willing to pay for different ad placements and/or at different time instances. In some cases, setting a floor price too high may turn away buyers (advertisers) at the risk of not finding another buyer later, and potentially compromise publisher profits. Conversely, setting the floor price too low could deprive the publishers an opportunity to maximize profits, when in fact the buyers (advertisers) are willing to pay more.